I love grilled cheese, whether the cheese is lumped between two pieces of bread with other goodies, or done my dad's way, open-faced and broiled until the center is gooey and the perimeter is crisp. Along with a cheese omelet, it's my favorite late-night snack -- especially if you add tomatoes.

And today, I'm in a whirlwind of grilled cheese fantasies because the Kitchn just referred back to a really great AOL Food list of awesome, gourmet cheese sandwiches (that Bob blogged about last year). After thoughts of homemade cheese delicacies, I started thinking back to grilled cheese outside the house.

Some places have recognized the wonder of grilled cheese. If you research the W Hotel, you'll find that many guests have noted their great grilled cheese, whether it has crab added to it in New Orleans, or tomatoes in San Francisco. I had the latter, practically drooling at the thought after a long night out with friends. My friend and I both ordered the gc and fries, and when it arrived, alcohol-fueled, 2-AM chatter was replaced with heavenly groans. It's that good. It wasn't too fancy. In fact, it was pretty simple, but tasted perfectly wonderful.

Do you ever bother to order grilled cheese out of the house? And, if so, have you had any worth mentioning?

When my mom was growing up, her Aunt Doris would often make grilled sandwiches for all the kids (there were eight cousins total in that particular branch of the family) using a Toas-Tite. She would spread margarine on the outsides of the bread and tuck slices of white American cheese in between. The sandwiches would be cut to fit the mold (hers was in the shape of a shell) and laid on top of a flame on the old gas range. Some time ago, I was helping my cousin Angie (daughter of Aunt Doris) organize her tupperware cabinet, when we stumbled across that very same Toas-Tite mold.

The Toas-Tite I have is one that my mom picked up at an antique mall several years ago. It was in a booth where everything was 50% off and she was so excited to have found it and gotten it for a song. I have to admit that I've never used it, I enjoy it mostly as a physical representation of family memory. Corie's recent post about her childhood experiences with Toastie sandwiches and the picture of her own, beloved Toas-Tite has me thinking that I need to fire up the stove and make a sandwich with mine. I think I should start out with the tomato/basil/mozzarella combo she mentions.

I did a little searching and discovered that Toas-Tites trigger childhood memories for many more than just Corie and my mom. Stephen J. Lyons uses it as a way to write about the legacy his grandparents left him. Karen Haram wrote an article in the San Antonio Express-News that spurred lots of folks to write in with their Toas-Tite memories. And here's a series of pictures on exactly how to use this sandwich maker to turn out a tasty sandwich filled with leftovers.

• Grilled cheese - without the bread.
• How to make corn salad (video).
• Behind the scenes of the American Cheese Society conference.
• Should Sheryl buy a vacuum sealer for her fruits and fish?
• Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1959.
• This week's recipes: Mediterranean Chicken and Orzo Salad, Spicy Gazpacho, New Potatoes with Capers and Basil, Crab and Avocado Verrine, and Buttery Almond Crisps.

Ah, the grilled cheese sandwich. Everyone takes it for granted. Get a couple of slices of bread and a few slices of cheese and you have yourself a meal. Maybe throw in a bowl of soup with it. But the grilled cheese is actually one of the more versatile sandwiches you can make. I often add tomato to mine, or mix up the type of cheese I use. I often toast the bread too (healthier).

AOL Food has a gallery of various grilled cheese recipes for you to try, including a Buttery Fig and Blue Cheese Melt, a Dutch Grilled Cheese (which includes onions, cumin, Gouda, and caraway), a Smoky Southwestern Grill (which includes mozzarella, goat cheese, and tomato on Italian Bread, and The Best Grilled Cheese, with cheddar cheese on sourdough bread. There are eight sandwiches in all.

Given that April is National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Month, I couldn't let the month go by without making, eating, and posting about grilled cheese at least once!

Everyone has their favorite grilled cheese sandwich, whether it's a slice of Kraft American on Wonder White made at home, or some complex combination of fancy cheeses on fancy bread. People also have their favorite "accompaniments." My Ultimate Grilled Cheese is one I make at home: razor thin slices of sourdough bread filled with extra sharp cheddar cheese and thinly sliced tomatoes. I know tomato soup is a popular accessory to grilled cheese sandwiches, but I prefer just throwing fresh ones into the sandwich to make it easier. I have to cut the crusts off and eat them while I'm standing there over the chopping board, then cut the sandwich into long strips. When I eat them, I feel like I'm eating cheese-filled French fries.

Now, what's your Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwich?

Well, to think we forgot to mention that April is National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Month! While I doubt I could actually make and eat a grilled cheese sandwich every day for the 30 days of April to "celebrate," I'll probably do a couple and post them here later this week. But until then, we'll have to make do with the Top Eight Grilled Cheese Sandwiches in New York, as selected by Grub Street. And don't think they're all fancy schmancy paninis or Thomas Keller's at Bouchon Bakery. There's a diner in there that's got some Kraft going, too.

The cover illustration from Grilled Cheese: 50 Recipes to Make You Melt is more than enough to stop any grilled-cheese lover in their tracks. And fortunately, when it comes to cookbooks, making your selection based on the cover illustration isn't an entirely bad idea.

The single-subject cookbook contains 50 recipes that are the very embodiment of comfort food. Some are simple combinations and others are a bit more involved, but all result in a warm, satisfying and delicious meal. The book opens with a detailed discussion of various types of cheeses and the pros and cons of using each for this particular type of sandwich. Some of the ingredients, in addition to various types of cheeses, that are added to the sandwiches are prosciutto, creme fraiche, fig jam, pesto, fresh herbs and sausages. And in addition to simply listing the various ways in which the ingredients can be combined, the book is filled with tips for toasting them to perfection (very helpful if you don't own a panini press) and on how to select the right sorts of bread for grilling. Highlights include Bacon and Cheddar with Chipotle Relish, Halloumi Sandwiches with Lime, Goat Cheese and Cilantro Mint Ginger Quesadillas and Grilled Ham, Cheese and Pineapple.

In a Q and A earlier today, Sarah asked me what three items I had my refrigerator. I listed Diet Coke, Perdue chicken, and Dove dark chocolate. I just looked again to see if I had any religious items in there. I couldn't find any grilled cheese sandwiches with the Virgin Mary on it or a nacho pan that looked like Jesus or hot chocolate that looked like Jesus. I also looked in my freezer and didn't find any ice formations that looked like the Virgin Mary.

But someone else has. In Morton, Texas, store owners and store customers claim they seem the shape of the Virgin Mary in the freezer at the store. The pic is at right. Judge for yourself. Personally, I think it looks like a giant hunk of ice, maybe something from Superman's Fortress of Solitude.

The Lord works in mysterious ways - and in the frozen foods section of your local supermarket.

And when I see "we" I'd like to make sure you know I mean other people.

People have been seeing images of Jesus and The Virgin Mary in a lot of food the past several years. We had those grilled cheese sandwiches, someone had some chocolate with a holy image on it, someone else had a cinnamon bun, and I think that someone even had a greasy pan that had a holy figure on the bottom of it. And this is on top of images that have been seen in non-food places, like windows and pieces of wood.

In this L.A. Times piece, we learn that the phenomenon is called "pareidolia," which is the perception of patterns where none are intended. Professor Steve Guthrie says it's a survival instinct, and the way that humans are hard-wired. Of course, this all means nothing to true believers, but it's an interesting article nonetheless, especially during this Christmas season.

I went through a phase in adolescence, where I wouldn't eat grilled cheese sandwiches. It was kids' food and I was a grown up -- wasn't I? But at some point these simple sandwiches became a nostalgic comfort food, and these days I've learned how to dress them up to match my most grown up tastes. Some keys I've found to making the perfect grilled cheese....

• Just say NO to the microwave! Yes, I know -- it's the fastest way to make them, but it just doesn't have the same crisp a pan-fried grilled cheese does.
• You've turned away from the microwave -- now turn away from the toaster. Toasting your bread in a pan or on a griddle with a bit of oil or butter makes the perfect crispy-on-the-outside, soft-and-warm-on-the-inside toast as the foundation for your perfect sandwich.
• A grilled cheese doesn't have to start with plain white bread. Pick your favorite type (I personally think sourdough makes the best grilled cheese base) and start toasting. And, yes, as soon as you turn your back on the bread, it's likely to burn.

A bowl of soup and a sandwich make a classic, comforting lunch pairing - especially if it is some kind of tomato soup and a cheese sandwich. In summer, this could mean gazpacho and cream cheese on toast for dipping, or a spicy tomato soup and hot, melting grilled cheese sandwich in winter. Either way, it is a satisfying meal. The soup and sandwich plate ($15) is the perfect setup for serving the pair, with a bowl set into one side of the plate and a rectangular, sandwich-shaped indentation on the other. The ceramic is oven, dishwasher and microwave safe, too.

Granted, you can't really say that you need a set like this one unless you have no other tableware, but there is nothing wrong with wanting it. And you know you'd use it if you had it.

We love grilled cheese here at Slashfood, but we understand that not everyone has the money or the space for a big panini press to make fancy grilled cheese sandwiches. Heck, if you're a college student, you might not even have a stovetop to do it in a pan. Well, if you're in a pinch, SouthPhillyBlocks has a photo essay on how to make a grilled cheese sandwich with an iron. Not a cast iron skillet, but a clothes iron. Like the kind you use to press your shirts.

Using the iron is not a new idea, but SouthPhillyBlocks isn't just the photo tutorial. They treated it like an experiment, and found that the Wool setting is the best one to make a grilled cheese.

The rayon setting, however, didn't work as well.

A new competitive eating world record was set over the weekend when eater Joey Chestnut out-ate the competition by eating 49 grilled cheese sandwiches in 10 minutes. Sonya Thomas and Pat Bertoletti tied for second place with 37 sandwiches each. All three passed the former record of 36.5 sandwiches.

There is a video available here of the event, which was held at the Arena Football Fan Fest in Las Vegas. It is a fascinating sight - if mildly disgusting - for anyone who has never witnessed a professional eating competition. The crown cheers on the eaters while they battle the sandwiches, which an announcer describes as being glue-like. Sonya, who weighs 105 pounds, really has her technique down to a science and Chestnut, in a post match interview, describes how much concentration is needed to compete, given that your body doesn't really want to eat all that grilled cheese.

Obviously, a headline like that requires a little explanation. Here goes: 11 years ago, Diana Duyser (right) of Ft. Lauderdale made a grilled cheese sandwich and, upon taking her first bite, noticed what she said was a likeness of the Virgin Mary burned into the bread. She quickly put the rest of the sandwich in a plastic container padded with cotton for safe keeping in her freezer. Two years ago, Duyser put the sandwich on eBay, where internet casino and exemplar of good taste GoldenPalace.com snatched it up for $28,000, as well as the frying pan that birthed it, for another $6,000. The holy sandwich has since brought plenty of notoriety to Duyser (as well as Golden Palace), getting her back stage at a Hall and Oates show and elevating her to saint-like status among some South Floridians. Duyser recently had the sandwich tattooed on her chest to "keep it close to her heart," the Miami Herald reported. The Herald page also has a link to local video coverage of the story.

Wikis, if you're not familiar with them, are online pages that anyone can edit. This leads to comprehensive definitions on just about any subject from applications like the Wikipedia. For a recipe, this means that all the collective knowledge of cooks can be added in to one central location. Does it make the perfect recipe? The directions for making a grilled cheese sandwich at WikiHow look pretty clear and even though the instructions are simple, keep in mind that every great chef (and hungry cook) must start somewhere. If the stove top method is too conventional, you can also try using a George Foreman grill or an iron.

Speaking of grilled cheese, here are a few facts to tide you over while you wait for your sandwich to be done:

• Americans make 2.2 billion grilled cheese sandwiches at home each year.
• The most popular two cheeses for grilled cheese are cheddar and American, though Gouda, Swiss and Gruyere are also quite popular, especially in Europe.
• 30% of Americans name the grilled cheese as their favorite homemade sandwich
• Grilled cheese often has add-ins and the most common is tomato, followed by bacon/ham, potato chips and pickles, while other variations include the French croque-monsieur and croque-madame.